ACES vs. Log-to-Rec.709 for Indie: When is simpler better?

Hey everyone,

I'm a location scout, and I've been trying to wrap my head around color pipelines for an indie narrative short film I'm producing on the side. We're shooting on an ALEXA Mini, and I'm really trying to maximize our production value within a very tight budget and schedule. Our DP is great, but color science isn't his main focus, and neither is it for our editor.

I've seen so much online about ACES, and it sounds amazing for consistency and flexibility. However, given we're talking about a small team, a short post-production window, and limited resources, I'm genuinely wondering if trying to implement ACES would be more of a hindrance than a help. We're talking about a crew of maybe 10-12 people total, and a 5-day shoot.

We've always gone the Log-to-Rec.709 route, usually with a good LUT applied early, and it's worked out okay. When is it genuinely more practical for an indie team like ours to stick with a well-managed Log-to-Rec.709 workflow instead of trying to force ACES into the mix?